verb: acts of mischief, adventure and misadventure of the Romans

Why I Don’t Pray for Paris

Before that sentence gets taken out of context, just hear (read) me out.

The attacks in Paris are heartbreaking. Over 130 innocent lives taken. People that were out celebrating life, eating dinner with a friend, enjoying a friendly soccer match, and listening to their favorite band play. Gone. In an instant. Joy and love replaced with fear and sadness. And hate.

It’s been a terrible two weeks. A plane full of souls plunging out of the sky. Bombings in Beirut. And now, 6 attacks in Paris in one night. Sadly, the first two are almost non-existent in the media now. One account of Beirut actually dismissed the bombings by saying that it was a way of life for them. Is that how desensitized we’ve become?

It’s easy to place blame. Blame the religion that is different from yours. Blame the country that isn’t yours. Blame the person that is different from you. Blame media for spinning the situation in such a way that makes money. Truth is, even when you place blame, it doesn’t change anything. Does it make you feel better? Maybe, for a little while. But here’s the thing: it won’t bring back the lives lost. It won’t make you whole. If anything, it adds to the pain. It adds to the sorrow. It adds to the hate.

I don’t pray for Paris–I pray for so much more than that. I pray for my kids’ generation. They are inheriting a world full of sorrow, suffering and violence. Is there good left? Of course there is. I pray that we as a human race can rediscover this good; that we rekindle compassion and understanding. I pray for my generation. We have a duty to lead our peers and children into the light and out of the dark. I pray that humanity understands that the actions of a few do NOT represent the actions of many. Extremists are just that–extremists. They take and take. They twist sacred words to make them fit their agenda. They are NOT the many. We are the many. We can rise up and stand up against this and say no more.